


You Were So Good

by ninhursag



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Coffee, F/M, Feelings Realization, Friendship/Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2020-10-18 17:01:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20642594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninhursag/pseuds/ninhursag
Summary: During the lost decade, Kyle and Liz saw each other from time to time. Kyle has an amazing memory and Liz catches feelings.





	You Were So Good

**Author's Note:**

> I asked for prompts and this was not quite what Lambourn asked for, but kind of on that wavelength I hope?
> 
> No warnings.

Kyle Valenti had a gift for coffee orders. He had it in highschool too, along with near perfect memory for anything that caught his attention. Playbooks, strings of bonds in organic chemistry, his fantasy football team, shitty cocktails and gross anatomy.

Liz Ortecho's evolving coffee order as she grew up, from half cream with shots of caramel and five packets of sugar at thirteen to blonde roast with just a splash of soymilk at 28. 

They saw each other at conferences and symposiums and one memorable spring break trip to Puerto Rico, on and off and occasionally, in those strange years between 18 and 28. That was enough to keep him current through it all. 

Kyle had a gift for remembering Liz. 

"You're ridiculous," she told him one morning when he texted her, and then, when she agreed, popped into her hotel room before she was presenting at a conference on genetic markers. "Where'd you come from?"

He looked good, if tired. Dark circles under his eyes but his smile was genuine and his shoulders were broad and steady looking.

"I saw your name on the conference program and figured I'd try my luck. I'm actually in town, doing a rotation at Mass General," he said with a grin and a shrug. "Just got off work for the next eight hours, actually." He handed over her coffee order, which, that year, still contained a sugar with the soymilk.

"How's that?" She accepted the coffee wordlessly.

"It's fun if you like zebras," he said, laughing. "I'm not sure I'd want to be in that OR with something plain vanilla, but I'm going to be able to do surgery on an alien with all the weird crap they throw at me."

She grinned. "Well if you meet an alien, I expect to help sequence their DNA."

"Deal," he said.

She drank her coffee with all the relish of a former barista who didn't need to brew it herself anymore. 

He raised an eyebrow when she put the cup down with a satisfied sigh. "You like?" He asked brightly.

"You know I do." There was a pause while they considered each other. 

"Heard you broke it off with that guy Eric? Does that suck?" He asked. His smile was tentative, careful. His hands were at his sides.

She laughed at him. "No, it doesn't, and yes, you're getting laid, Valenti."

He laughed back, eyes bright and crinkled with it. She leaned in and he kissed her, warm and steady, just a burn of stubble, with what was clearly the energy of a second or fifth wind. 

They fucked once, slow and hard, on the king sized hotel bed. His hands were steady on her skin and the shape and feel of him was so safe and familiar, like finding home.

He ate her out afterwards for good measure, on his hands and knees under the desk while she prepped her power point one last time. Some of the slides ended up out of order but that didn't even annoy her.

He zipped her into her conference dress, surgeon's hands steady on the zipper while she reapplied her makeup. Only the yawns gave him away.

"Go to sleep, asshole," she said. "You might get lucky again before you have to go back to work."

"Well how am I supposed to say no to that?" He said, with a smirk that was spoiled by another yawn.

She rolled her eyes and shoved him into the bed.

She didn't have the heart to wake him up when she came back and he was sound asleep, snoring softly and tangled in her sheets.

He still had her coffee right at 28, with Max Evans dead in a pod. Rosa was hiding out in his father's old cabin-- his and Rosa's father's old cabin and wasn't that a head fuck, and Liz was contemplating her once dead sister and her now sort of dead fuck knew what.

But Kyle Valenti came through, like he always had, since they were kids. Even when he was a dick to half the rest of the world.

"You know," she told him with a bitter laugh and a headshake. "Our friends with benefits thing is the longest relationship I have ever had."

He shrugged and put a warm hand on her shoulder. "Me too, so you've got company." He looked as tired as she felt.

"What do you think that says about us? Like, are we doomed to no strings attached buddy crap forever?" There was something in his eyes that made her stop for a second. Dark and sad.

"Who knows," he muttered. "I mean, I've liked being your buddy."

She took his hand in hers and he let her, easily. "I'm serious, Kyle. Can I just be in love with you?" She asked, and then she laughed at herself.

His eyebrows went up and the edges of his mouth curled. "Ok," he said.

"Ok?" She repeated, to verify.

"Yeah," he said. "So I'm in love with you and that sounds pretty damn acceptable." And then he leaned over, just a little, and she cupped her hands around the back of his neck so she could pull him in for a kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think! Feedback feeds me and is motivating as hell :)
> 
> You can also find me as ninhursag at dreamwidth https://ninhursag.dreamwidth.org/ or ninswhimsy on Tumblr if you want to talk at me!


End file.
